The Importance of Hobbies
by DinoDina
Summary: Sirius really wants to find himself a hobby.


**Written for Liza's Days of the Year Challenge: 1. Hobby Month - _Write about someone with an interesting hobby._**

 __ **Words: 1013**

It was a cold winter night.

Well, no, it wasn't. It was a relatively chilly autumn evening, but things always sounded better when they were exaggerated.

Seated in front of the fire, Sirius contemplated life. Well, not life _exactly_ , but close enough. He thought about his friends, all of whom were talking to McGonagall about a recent explosion in the Slytherins' hallway, and about himself, alone in the Common Room.

They were all close. Of course they were, they'd spent the past six and a half years together. They were inseparable. He loved James, he loved Peter, and he _loved_ Remus. His friends kept him grounded and whole and happy, and yet… he felt as if there was something missing. Something important.

His friends were their own separate people, with their own likes and dislikes, and so was Sirius.

He just noticed things about them that he didn't notice about himself.

They were all close to their families. They liked vegetables, even if they had different preferences. They liked classical literature—Remus loved all literature, James stuck to Shakespeare, and Peter liked early science fiction—and old Muggle films. They liked _him_.

Sirius wasn't close to his family, hated _anything_ that even looked like a vegetable, and liked neoclassical and contemporary works in both literature and film. He was different from them, and that wasn't a _bad_ thing, but it was odd.

Peter, for example, loved chess. He was the best in Gryffindor, often forgoing homework for some tournament or game. What he lacked in academic brilliance, he made up for in the game and in how patient a teacher he was.

James loved Quidditch and Lily Evans. He was brilliant at the game and was a loving, attentive boyfriend. He loved the two almost the same, albeit in slightly different ways. He loved his family, he loved his friends, and he loved Quidditch and Lily Evans.

Remus knitted. He made his own cardigans and hats, and extended the favor to his friends. Sirius had three cardigans that he'd stolen from Remus, as well as five pairs of socks; all were Remus-made. Remus liked knitting and he liked chocolate.

What did Sirius like?

Sirius wasn't one for introspection. He always ended up in a depressing place, which was why solitude was probably not the best place for him.

And then it hit him: his friends had hobbies.

.oOo.

"Hey, Pete?" It was the next day, and Sirius was determined to find himself a hobby.

"Yeah?"

"Can you teach me how to play chess?"

He could see how Peter's eyes widened at the question. With good reason. Sirius was seventeen years old and he didn't know how to play chess because the last time he'd tried, he'd gotten mad and had thrown the chess set into the fireplace.

"That's…" Peter hesitated. "I don't…"

"Please?"

He saw Peter tremble. Sirius's pout was irresistible. "Alright."

.oOo.

Seven hours later, Peter was almost crying and Sirius was moping. It was how James found them, returning to the dorm after a fantastic date with Lily.

He noticed his best friend face down on the bed. "What's the matter?"

"He wanted me to teach him how to play chess," Peter explained from his own bed. It was practically impossible for anyone—even James or Remus or Peter—to pull Sirius from one of his sulks, and Sirius, even through the blanket he was bundled in, could tell that Peter was hoping James would succeed. "It… didn't work."

"You alright?" James asked.

"No."

"Alright." James sat down on the side of Sirius's bed. "Anything I can do?"

"Can you teach me how to have a hobby?" Sirius really hoped he could. "I just… I want a hobby."

"Mate, I'm sorry, but you have to figure that out for yourself." He could hear the pity in James's voice. "Hobbies aren't something you force yourself to do. You know, Pete loves chess, but you can't force yourself to love chess."

"Fine!" If James wasn't going to be helpful, Sirius would find someone who _was_. He stood up and walked out of the dorm, head held high.

Behind him, he heard James whisper, "Drama queen."

And so, on a slightly frigid evening in late autumn, Sirius found himself in the Common Room. it was empty, save for someone in one of the plush armchairs. He was just about to leave that person to whatever they were going and go elsewhere when he realized that the person was Remus.

"Remus!" he called, skipping over from the stairs.

Remus didn't look up from the book he was reading. "Hi, Sirius."

"What're you doing?"

"Reading."

"Right." He plopped himself into the chair next to Remus, half-over him but not obstructing his view of the book. "That's a hobby, right?"

"Sorry?"

"Reading." Sirius looked up and was faced with Remus's amber eyes. "It's a hobby, right?"

"Yeah." He turned a page. "Why?"

"Because I need a hobby."

"And?"

"And…" _Why didn't Remus understand?_ "I want reading to be my hobby."

"You can't _make_ something be your hobby, Sirius." He dog-eared a page and closed the book, now fully-focused on Sirius. "You just have to find something. Why do you want a hobby, anyway?"

"Because you all have hobbies."

"And?"

"I want one, too."

Remus snorted. "You have plenty of hobbies."

"I do?"

"Of course." He grinned. "You people-watch. Well, not 'people'. You Marauder-watch. Why do you think you noticed we all have hobbies? Not all hobbies are as tangible as chess or knitting, you know."

Sirius made himself more comfortable in Remus's lap; he knew he was going to stay awhile. "So I don't have to learn anything new?"

"No, you don't. And you're also a drama queen. That's not a hobby, but it definitely counts as one: you spend so much time being overdramatic—present situation definitely brought forward as an example—you can call it your full-time occupation."

.oOo.

If there was one thing Sirius learned that evening, it was that he had not only one hobby, but two.

It was nice to feel included.


End file.
